The GMB union has announced a week-long strike at waste recycling plants in Nottinghamshire.
50 workers at refuse and recycling processing facilities operated by Veolia, which is contracted by Nottinghamshire County Council, are expected to take part in initial industrial action from 25 September.
GMB said Veolia’s management had refused to engage in negotiations over a pay rise.
In response, Veolia said it had agreed a two-year pay deal with the union for Nottinghamshire employees in 2022 and had offered to engage in early pay discussions for 2024.
A Veolia spokesperson said the company had honoured the agreement and it was therefore ‘disappointing’ that the union was taking industrial action.
GMB organiser Mick Coppin said Veolia Nottinghamshire was ‘expecting local workers to do dangerous, difficult, and smelly work for the minimum wage.’
Mr Coppin added: ‘There’s no other way to put it; Veolia Nottinghamshire are robbing from the poor to give to the rich.
‘Our members can no longer afford to heat their homes and pay their bills; they’re being driven to the breadline by a multi-million-pound company.’
He said that while Nottinghamshire County Council’s leadership were ‘sitting on their hands’, Veolia was ‘being left to run amok’.
The council's interim corporate director for place, Derek Higton, said the council was working with Veolia to understand the impact the industrial action would have.
Mr Higton said: 'At present, we anticipate that the operation of the county council’s network of household waste and recycling centres will not be affected.'
